April 9, 2025 • 41 mins
Ever wondered how some entrepreneurs turn an unexpected career shift into a thriving business? Travis Briggs, co-owner of Trichology Salon in Oklahoma City, went from tending bar to leading a successful 20-station salon—all by embracing continuous learning, business systems, and strategic hiring.
In this episode of Small Business Pivots, Travis shares how he helped build a sustainable and scalable salon business by implementing clear core values, structured processes, and a long-term growth strategy. He also reveals the pivotal decision during COVID that reshaped his business and set the foundation for lasting success.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
✔️ The unconventional path Travis took into the beauty industry
✔️ The game-changing decision that helped him scale his salon
✔️ How he solved his biggest hiring challenges with a creative approach
✔️ The key systems and processes every salon owner needs to grow
✔️ Why long-term business planning is critical for success
💡 Travis’ Insight: “When something isn’t happening in a business, it comes down to a person not knowing they’re supposed to do it—or they don’t know how.”
Whether you're a salon owner, small business entrepreneur, or looking for strategies to grow your company, this episode is packed with valuable insights you can apply right now.
🎧 Listen now and discover how to scale your business with the right mindset, strategy, and systems!
Travis Briggs: Co-owner of Trichology Salon
Website: https://www.trichologysalon.net/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/travisbriggs2/?hl=en
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/trichology
#SmallBusiness #Entrepreneurship #BusinessGrowth #BusinessCoaching #SalonBusiness #SalonOwner #SuccessStories #EntrepreneurMindset #ScalableBusiness #BusinessStrategy #HiringTips #LeadershipDevelopment #SystemsAndProcesses #MarketingForSalons #EntrepreneurJourney #ScalingABusiness #BusinessOwnerLife #MindsetForSuccess #StrategicGrowth #CoachingForEntrepreneurs #BusinessOperations #WorkOnYourBusiness #Public Speaking #TeamBuilding #BusinessLeadership #GrowthMindset #BusinessSuccess #TravisBriggs #TammyBriggs #Trichology #TrichologySalon #OklahomaCity #OklahomaCityBusiness #BOSS #MichaelDMorrison
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, Welcome to another special Small Business
Pivots Today.
We have a very good, dearfriend here in our neck of the
woods in Oklahoma City and Iknow, as I always say week to
week, no one can introduce theirname and their business like
the business owner.
So I always let you introduceyourself.
So tell us a little bit aboutyou, your business and what
(00:24):
we're going to help people withtoday.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
All right.
Well, first, again, thank youfor having me here.
It's great to be hererepresenting the hair salon
industry.
My name is Travis Briggs andI'm co-owner of Trichology Salon
.
Trichology Salon is a hairsalon.
We have 20 stations here, sowe're a pretty large hair salon.
We offer all thingshair-related, from hair cutting,
(00:49):
hair coloring, we do someextensions we kind of do it all
when it comes to hair in here,and one of our main core focuses
, aside from giving great hair,is we're really excited about
hospitality and getting thatwonderful guest experience.
So we really prioritize thatfrom the time the guest comes in
to the time the guest leaves.
(01:10):
We opened in November of 2008.
So we're at 16 years.
Yeah, thank you.
We're really proud of that.
And over the time, over theyears, we have had a wonderful
team of stylists that haveworked here.
We have a wonderful team ofstylists that work here
currently and our guests.
(01:31):
We've always have been and feltso supported by the people of
Oklahoma City, the people ofEdmond and beyond, and our local
hair industry as well.
We've received a lot of supportover the years, so we're really
thankful to be here and be apart of it.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Well, we appreciate you and everything that you do
for our community, for ourlisteners.
We've kind of reeled it back ina little bit.
We've had a lot of guests fromall over the world and this year
we're going to kind of focus onour local community because we
have a lot of fantastic, specialpeople like yourself.
But before we get into yourstory, your journey and your
pivots, we're going to introducethe show and we'll be right
(02:11):
back.
Welcome to Small BusinessPivots, a podcast produced for
small business owners.
I'm your host, michael Morrison, founder and CEO of BOSS, where
we make business ownershipsimplified for success.
Our business is helping yoursgrow.
Boss offers business loans withbusiness coaching support,
(02:34):
apply in minutes and getapproved and funded in as little
as 24 to 48 hours atbusinessownershipsimplifiedcom.
All right, welcome back toSmall Business Pivots.
I know for a lot of smallbusiness owners we kind of grow
(02:56):
up differently.
Some of us have trials andtribulations, anything that kind
of stalled you a little bitmaybe growing up, that you had
to overcome before you got intothis adulting world.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Oh geez, yeah, trials , I mean I think that's just all
through life.
There's those things and Ialways see them and view them as
opportunities to grow and learn.
I think one of the things thatI've had to overcome over the
years is public speaking gettingover that.
In the beginning that wasreally, really challenging for
me.
Just running a meeting in thesalon was hard.
I'd find myself at sweaty palmsand what am I going to say.
(03:34):
But over time practice getsbetter, so that's something that
I've had to overcome.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
When you got into the adulting world.
When you got into the adultingworld, kind of what's the
journey that led up to being anentrepreneur, so in other words,
kind of what did you do beforeand then kind of what sparked
you to get into the entrepreneurworld itself.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Sure.
So, yeah, that's quite a story.
I think it begins.
We have to go well.
Prior to doing hair, I waswaiting tables, I was bartending
early twenties and honestly notreal sure where I wanted to go
in life as far as my career wasconcerned.
And I was in a relationshipwith somebody for two years and
(04:22):
she was a hairstylist.
We dated for a couple of yearsand all of our friends or most
of our friends were hairstyliststoo.
So while we were dating, thatreally exposed me to the hair
industry and I just I reallyloved what I saw.
It's a creative industry,passion filled, continuous
growth, continuous education,fun, and it got me thinking.
(04:45):
It embodied a lot of thingsthat I felt would work out
really well for me.
So I decided to get myself inhair school and let's give this
a go.
And I remember when I startedschool I told myself I'm really
going to apply myself this time,you know.
I felt like I hadn't trulyapplied myself in life leading
up into that moment.
But I'm going to really give ita go and it's a good thing I
(05:07):
did, because when I got in hairschool I was terrible.
I had never really done muchwith hair.
I was always interested in myown hair but I'd always, for the
most part, had short hair.
So when it came to blow dryingand all these things even for
those that don't have a hairlicense kind of know those basic
skills I didn't know that.
So I can remember reallystruggling in the beginning, but
(05:29):
I stuck to.
I'm going to really give this ago and I'm going to show up
every day and try to become alittle bit better every day.
By the time I graduated hairschool I was still terrible, but
I was better than when I hadstarted and that's what I
recognized and I thought okay,so if I keep working at this I
can continue to grow, and I did.
(05:50):
Within a couple of months ofbeing out of hair school I was
in another city, another state,taking a continuous education
class and it was a five-daycourse, a Tony and Guy course.
It was great.
I took that and maybe I was alittle bit better after that,
started working in a hair salonand practicing.
I kept up with it with thecontinuing education classes and
(06:11):
, fast forward to a couple ofyears.
I was in a salon and it was agood shop, but I was ready to
move on.
I'd felt like I had grown allthat I could with where I was
and I'd heard there was a hairsalon opening up called
Trichology.
I thought, okay, well, where Iwas and I'd heard there was a
hair salon opening up calledTricology, I thought, okay, well
, this sounds interesting.
And the two people opening upthe shop, which is Tammy Briggs,
(06:32):
my now wife and partner, andher business partner at the time
, greg Welchel they were theones opening up Tricology, so
they're the founders ofTricology.
I went in and applied Iactually had.
I knew Tammy a little bit I'dnever met Greg at that time and
we sat down.
They told us all about, told meall about trichology and what
it was going to be, and I wasreally excited.
(06:54):
So I started working there atthat time when trichology opened
in 2008.
And the continuing educationthat I was doing really paid off
for me in those times.
It gave me the opportunities toget into doing some teaching in
the shop.
It also put me the opportunityto become a manager.
(07:15):
So, looking back on thosethings, I feel like I had earned
those things, but at the sametime I wasn't experienced in
them and I wasn't truly readyfor them.
I didn't have any managementexperience.
I had never taught before.
I'd taken classes that teachyou how to teach right, and I'd
taken a lot of classes.
I knew how to cut hair, but I'dnever truly taught before.
(07:38):
And so emerging yourself,immersing yourself into these
realms that you've never donebefore, naturally it's not going
to come to you right away, andI had a lot of challenges in
that way, in every way that youcan imagine.
But I'm also really thankful.
As we were talking earlier, youknow you grow from those
challenges.
(07:59):
So anytime you know I havesomething, that I have to learn,
a new skill, I have to dosomething new, and it's hard.
I always remember that andthose are the times that have
really paid off for me lookingback.
So went through those things,those challenges, those
opportunities, all of it, andthat was also around the time
(08:23):
that me and Tammy's relationshipbegan to grow from a friendship
to something more.
So that was really exciting andlet's fast forward because this
could take all hour.
Well, fast forward to around2014.
Around 2014,.
(08:49):
That was a time when Tammy,greg, along with a couple of
others, were opening up a hairschool together.
So let me take a small stepback.
We'd always talked about mebecoming a partner with
Trichology Salon.
When Tammy and I got married,it kind of resolved that thing.
It's like well, now you don'tnecessarily need to become a
partner, you don't need to buyinto the company, you don't need
to do anything like thatbecause you're married into it
now.
So so I had to open up a hairschool together hair arts
institute, which is still aroundwonderful hair school to this
(09:12):
day.
Um, get that going.
That launches in 2015, a coupleyears into that it.
We got to a point, tam and I did, where we felt like this is
something that we're no longergoing to be able to be a part of
.
So then the question was well,how do we remove ourselves from
this company with these businesspartners?
(09:34):
And a really wonderful solutioncame from those conversations
and what we decided to do.
Where we landed with everybodywas Greg Welchel, founder, one
of the founders of Trichologywas wanting to move into the
direction of more of the hairschool ownership and less of the
salon.
So what happened was weacquired his ownership of
(09:56):
Trichology Salon, so Tammy hadalready had 50.
We would gain Greg's 50% and inexchange, he would gain the
ownership of the hair schoolhair arts Institute.
So he'd become a bigger owner,bigger percentage owner of hair
arts Institute, along with somesome money that went along with
that.
So it was one of those reallywonderful deals where everybody
(10:16):
got what they wanted, walkedaway with that.
So it was in that time that itbecame solely Tammy and I's
salon, and that was in 2018, soseven years ago.
So it's been some time.
There was a whole new challengefor me, because now you go from
a hairstylist yes, I've beenhere from the beginning, but I
(10:38):
wasn't an owner at that time andnow I am.
So how do you transition now,with your colleagues, into this
new role?
You know that's not easy to do.
You know you don't want to comeoff too strong in that way, but
at the same time, you want tobe able to lead and do the
(10:59):
things that you do as a salonowner, and so you know that was
a process in of itself.
Covid happened shortlythereafter.
That was 2020.
So going through COVID likeeverybody was was just a time we
also recognized when we were athome preparing for coming back
(11:22):
to work with COVID procedures,was we also recognized it was a
time for us to make some changeswithin trichology too.
That was the time we startedworking with the business coach.
That was our first time to workwith the business coach and we
really lucked out with hiring anamazing business coach who
(11:43):
understood where we were as acompany, where we were wanting
to go, the challenges that wewere dealing with, and so when
we returned, we didn't onlyreturn from COVID with COVID
policies, if you will, but alsoit was our first time to
implement core values atTrichology.
Trichology had values, but theyweren't necessarily outlined on
(12:08):
paper, they weren't talkedabout in weekly meetings.
You know it's one thing to justcreate values.
It's another thing to writethem out and talk about them in
meetings so that everybody isclear on what those values are,
the accountability that comeswith them.
So you know there was.
I think you could have gonearound and asked people about
trichology values and you mayhave gotten a couple of things.
(12:31):
Continuing education wassomething that we always did
really well, but beyond a coupleof things, it gets lost.
So we outlined those values.
It was one of the best and mostimportant things for us to do
and, you know, started talkingabout those things and we'd had,
for the most part at that time,a group of stylists that had
(12:53):
been with us for a long time andthey're wonderful people,
wonderful stylists.
It also felt like this might bea time for a little bit of
change, a little bit of turnover, which is not a bad word.
Turnover, that's a healthything in businesses from time to
time.
I mean, it can be good, it canbe bad, it really depends on the
(13:14):
circumstances.
We just felt like to get towhere we wanted and to get the
culture where we wanted.
We were curious to see who wasgoing to be along with us for
that ride and who who was goingto be, you know, maybe ready to
take some new steps into theirown journey, and so that's what
(13:35):
happened in 2021, 2022.
We you know some, some stylistsof ours had been with us again,
wonderful people um, moved on,and that was what we had
anticipated the whole time Um,we left, we left it open so that
it was.
It was their decision to makeUm.
(13:56):
We just got really clear on ouron our values, our core values
and where we were going to be asa shop.
So that happens.
What I didn't account for wasbecause we'd been around for a
while and we'd always, for themost part, I feel like had
gotten a lot of applications inas a company.
I think, just with the timesjust right after COVID and other
(14:21):
factors in 2022, 2023, as thisturnover is happening we weren't
getting the applications inthat I was anticipating.
You know, these applicationswere a key part to this whole
process because these are goingto be new hires.
We got some, but we didn't getas many as I thought that we
(14:44):
were going to get, and I thinkyou know some of that is, while
it's true we've been around fora long time, we have a great
reputation, we're also not thenew kids on the block, so to
speak.
We've been around for a while.
You know those new businesses.
One thing they really havegoing for them, when it's a
brand new hair salon orrestaurant or whatever the
industry is, oftentimes iseverybody's excited about them.
(15:06):
Who's this new shop?
Who's this new restaurant?
We've got to go eat there.
Let's try it out.
Everything is, of course, isbrand new in the shop.
Trichology wasn't those things.
It was a lot of other things,but it wasn't those things.
And so for somebody who isyoung, coming out of hair school
18, 19, 20 years old, somethinglike that we may not be on the
(15:27):
radar as much as a shop thatopened up a year ago and maybe
they know the owner.
They have a couple of friendswho work there, so that's where
they want to go work.
So that was a real challenge wasokay.
We're not getting theapplications that we need, even
though I feel like we have theright tools for somebody coming
out of school.
We have a wonderful assistantstylist program that helps them
(15:48):
transition.
How are we going to let themknow, remind them of who we are
and what it is that we do?
So that was a realization thatwas made.
That was caught, you know,somewhere in that process and,
like you know, while we've beenfocusing on what we're doing
(16:14):
here in the shop, we've got toalso do some focusing on some
other things as well.
That also became the opportunityto recognize as a whole,
locally being, that our industrydoesn't come together enough.
You know, we're all I feel likewe're all very supportive of
each other.
There's no, there's nothing, noissue there, but we're busy.
I think it's what it comes downto.
(16:35):
We're busy, the other salonsare busy, so it's hard to get
beyond the walls of our own shopand come together, you know,
for connection, for support,friendship, all those things.
So we started diving into somemore communities-based events
(16:55):
and bringing other salon owners,other stylists from the
community in to do some teachingand opening our doors to all
stylists in Oklahoma City,edmond and beyond, for that
matter, to come in and be a part, and also, in doing that,
reaching out to hair schools tooand bringing them in too, and
(17:19):
that, I think, has paid off inall spectrums.
For one, we've made a lot offriends along the way.
We've helped others.
In times We've even empoweredsome of the stylists who came in
and taught a class and gavethem that opportunity.
It also was an opportunity forother stylists and hair school
(17:41):
students to see who we are.
At the same time and I knowthat you know 2024 and even
already in a couple months, into2025, you know, those
applications do come in now, andnow we can, really we can go
through them and decide who'sgoing to be the best fit for
(18:02):
trichology moving forward.
So, wow, yeah, and that's stilla long story short.
You know a lot more to it thanthat, but it's been a wonderful.
It's been a wonderful ride and,like I said, there's been a lot
of challenges in there, butthey've all have been.
(18:23):
You know, I've learned a lotfrom them all and we've grown,
so I'm thankful.
I'm thankful for all of themand those surprises too.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
Yeah, yeah, well, you mentioned earlier that you had
a problem with public speaking.
You're listening to SmallBusiness Pivots.
This podcast is produced by mycompany, boss.
Our business is helping yoursgrow.
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Apply in minutes and getapproved and funded in as little
(18:53):
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Now let's get back to ourspecial guest.
Yeah, yeah, well, you mentionedearlier that you had a problem
with public speaking, and Idon't think you have that
(19:13):
challenge anymore.
So your story was very wellsaid, and so I want to ask,
because a lot of business ownersare introverts, so most
introverts do have a challengeof speaking in front of others,
and you said that you worked onit.
Was there anything specificthat you could share so other
business owners can maybe havesome hope there as well?
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Yeah, there, there is hope.
I can tell you um it.
First of all, thank you foryour compliment and, um, you
know public speaking, um,because I still get nervous, you
know, before getting up andspeaking in front of others.
And I can remember the firsttime in event we had a couple of
years ago and I had to open upthe event, it was at our shop.
(19:55):
I put it on, so, um, that'seven the introduction, and you
know when it was about time itwas, you know, I think the event
was starting at 12 o'clock andso 1159, I, I, I go to the
bathroom to just get alonebecause I'm like, oh, my gosh,
like my hands, my palms aresweaty and I'm just trying to do
(20:16):
like some breath work for amoment to help calm my nerves.
I'm not I'm not sure how muchthat worked in that moment.
So I completely understand.
And then I relate.
I can even recall those timesin simple meetings a few years
ago, having with the team and sogetting nervous in front of
(20:36):
people that I knew really well.
So I understand some thingsthat have helped me.
The first thing is you have todo it.
The more and more you dosomething, the better you're
going to get.
So look for those opportunitiesand if you have the opportunity
to lead a meeting, do it.
Or perhaps you're not theperson that does.
Go to the person that does andcome up with a way to get
(20:58):
involved more with the meetingand that's an opportunity to
speak, whether it's in front oftwo people, 12 people, whatever
the size of the team is.
It'll also be good for themeeting, I think, because now
they're hearing somebody else'svoice rather than just the same
person over and over.
It's going to give you somegreat practice.
So you're looking for practice,other things you know.
(21:19):
Get involved with if you havean opportunity to do
Toastmasters.
That's not something I've done.
I've heard wonderful thingsabout it.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
It is.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Yeah, read books if you have the opportunity.
I think doing is the number onething, but I think there are
some books out there that canhelp you pick up some tips.
Masterclass I'm a huge fan ofMasterclass.
I've subscribed to that.
They've got some great videoson public speaking as well.
So look for ways to practiceand take some tips where you can
(21:55):
.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
Yeah, and to kind of piggyback on that, I believe
it's over 70% of business ownersare introverts, which means
they're, you know, a littleintimidated.
And then I think it's like 15%of those that don't call
themselves introverts areintroverts.
They just play, they live afacade.
So you know, we all have thatchallenge and I will agree with
(22:20):
you, I did the Toastmasters along time ago and it is a muscle
memory that you continuallyhave to practice.
I'll even say that during COVID, I kind of reverted back to my
introvert because there weren'tspeaking engagements.
And so I make it a point, likeyou said, to get involved and
(22:42):
make sure that at least once aweek I get to a networking group
where I have to stand up andspeak, at least break.
You know, the icebreakers whereyou have to introduce yourself,
your company, and then alsohave a speaking event once a
month, you know, just to keep.
So that's, that's greatinformation.
Well, you also said that you'vegot serious this time.
You're going to make this thinghappen, and we always preach as
(23:04):
business coaches, thesimplicity of personal
development is get serious, makea plan and take action.
What were some of those thingsthat actually got you to get
serious?
Because I know a lot of peoplethey want, they want to do
something.
They just can't seem to getmotivated to do it.
Was there anything that kind ofsparked that for you?
Speaker 2 (23:24):
I was.
I was ready.
I was just ready.
I felt it inside.
I I knew that I was ready totake the next step in my life
and apply myself.
I felt like at that time Ihadn't done that, but I knew
inside that I had that in me andin all of the challenges that
(23:46):
I've faced along the way that Iwent through some of those just
now, I knew that I'm going tofigure this out.
I'm going to keep going.
So I think my advice I don'tknow if this kind of answers
your question, but you're goingto get knocked down in life,
you're going to get knocked downin business Just be ready to do
that and then get back up.
And as long as you're justready to get back up, it's like
(24:08):
I'm just going to try, I'm goingto just put myself out there.
So put yourself out there, justget started.
You know what's that first stepand do that right.
Maybe write down those firstthree steps, 10 steps, and do
that first step.
Just get started.
That's the key is to get moving.
Once you get that momentumgoing, you get on that track.
(24:30):
It's hard to stop that.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Absolutely Great advice.
Well, speaking of getting ontrack, you mentioned a business
coach, and so we do businesscoaching.
So, coming from us, it doesn'tsound very valuable when we say
everyone should have a businesscoach.
So you said it was veryvaluable to you, so I have a few
questions.
What was the process like?
(24:53):
Because a lot of small businessowners haven't had a business
coach?
I know you focused on corevalues.
We do that too, but there's alot more after that.
Like you said, the companyalready had core values, but
they weren't really implemented,they weren't practiced.
It wasn't part of the DNA.
So how do you get that into theDNA of the company?
(25:14):
And then, what were some otherthings you found valuable?
Speaker 2 (25:18):
with a business coach .
Well, you get that into thecompany by reiterating the
values.
So at Tricology, we have abi-weekly meeting.
Some businesses do weekly,monthly.
Whatever it is In thosemeetings you've got to serve I
always circle around one ofthose Like going into the
meeting.
I know of at least one value,core value that I'm going to
bring up, and so the team isalways hearing about those.
(25:43):
It's not enough to only writedown the values and then be done
.
In fact, trichology recently.
So we wrote our initial corevalues in 2020.
And just a couple of months ago, we have, for the most part, an
entirely new team.
We have a couple of stylistsfrom a few years before which
we're really thankful for andproud of, but we have a lot of
(26:05):
the new team.
So we decided it's time for usto revisit our core values as a
team, and that also got a lot ofbuy-in from the team too.
There was already the buy-in,but I thought it would be great
for us to sit down and let'stake a look at our values and
what makes sense for us today,which ones need to stay and
which ones can we let go of andmaybe replace with some that
(26:28):
make more sense.
So include your team on them ifthat's possible.
Let them contribute to them.
If you feel like this isn't theright time for that, then
create those values and justtalk about them as much as you
can in meetings, et cetera.
For us, what else you know,aside from the values?
(26:50):
What did we talk about?
Challenges those times?
There was there was morechallenges and having somebody
to talk to about what was whatwas going on and what was
happening and and getting theirfeedback and, at times, even
direction.
Having another voice was reallyhelpful.
(27:14):
Moving on from those times andthen into a new coach, it's
digging in a little deeper.
So let's go into systems andprocesses.
What do those look like foryour company?
Do you have those in place?
And just buttoning everythingup, and so it becomes almost
more fun.
I think in the beginning, whenyou work with a coach, you're
(27:36):
kind of nervous and maybe you'reworried.
Are they going to judge youbased on where you are, what you
have, what you don't have?
Like you don't even have corevalues in your company, like you
know.
So you worry about those things.
But you know as you go alongand you get these things in
place.
Now it's just about becomingbetter.
We know that we're doing good,but we want to continue to grow.
(27:59):
We want to continue to getbetter.
We want to be able to empowerour team better.
How can we help our stylistsmore?
What can we do better?
And so it becomes more of thosetype of conversations.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
On a scale of one to 10, 10 having a business coach
and one not having a businesscoach where do you think your
business would be not investingin some type of consulting or
coaching?
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Yeah, we would be far from where we are right now.
That is absolutely, 100% true.
We can't envision not having abusiness coach at Tricology and
we've worked with two differentbusiness coaches and both,
(28:48):
thankfully, have been fantastic,and there will be a third coach
.
It's worth the investment.
Yeah, I can't imagine us notever having one.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
Well, I appreciate you saying that as a business
coach, because we find valuesand as a business coach, I even
have business coaches myself,not just on our team, but for me
personally.
So they are valuable and it ismore about for those.
I will back up for thoselooking for a business coach and
I want you to put your inputhere.
I encourage them to cause.
(29:23):
I hear people say, well, I hada business coach, it didn't work
.
And I'm like which part didn'twork?
And they're like well, it justdidn't work.
And I'm like so my, my tip forthose considering a business
coach is know what you're tryingto do, like what do you want to
change?
What challenges do you have?
And then, because there are somany different types of coaches
and a lot of business owners,they just want to increase sales
and I'm like that's not alwaysthe best thing, cause if you
(29:45):
have a company that'sdisorganized and chaotic, all
you're doing is multiplying thatchaos.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
Absolutely yeah, I want to make more money.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
Don't we all?
But you know you can make moremoney if you're more efficient,
right your profits will bebigger and you don't have as
many headaches.
So there's lots of differentways you can look at that
revenue growth.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
That's right.
Yeah, you, you got to dig alittle deeper than that, you
know.
So, yeah, somebody who's who'ssaying that it's hard to know
specifically what the challengewas there.
But perhaps it was the coach,maybe they weren't the right
coach.
You know, I don't think allcoaches are created equal.
You got to find the right coachand we've been really fortunate.
(30:33):
We've had two coaches and bothwere fantastic.
One was from the hair industryand one was not.
Our first coach did not have abackground in doing hair and
that was part of why we wentwith her, is we?
We liked that she didn't havethat background and she could
see things with those fresh eyesmoving forward.
(30:53):
Then we had one that was, andit was nice because they
understood certain things right.
So there's value in both.
But I think doing your duediligence and asking around,
talking to some people, ifyou're thinking, if you're
serious about hiring a coach, iswhat you want to do in that
case.
The other thing is you know youhave to be ready to make those
changes so they could be thebest coach in the world.
(31:14):
But if you're not ready to getserious and put that work into
your business, then it might notwork out either.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
Absolutely.
And the only other thing Iwould add unless you're
specifically looking forsomething in your business, just
verify they've owned businessesbefore or at least have some
kind of background there,background there.
That's one thing that I hear alot of people is they follow a
framework.
They got a license to follow aframework and sometimes that
(31:46):
doesn't always work.
Sometimes it does.
You mentioned the 20 stations,right.
So in your industry and I knowfor a lot of salons I've gone
into you might see three or five.
So let's talk about the growthand scaling and kind of how you
got to that level.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Yeah, absolutely Well , it is.
It's a big number for a shop.
You know, there's salons thathave two, four or five chairs.
There's some that are 10.
Virtual Ecology has 20.
And then there's some that areeven, you know, 50 and 75.
I don't know how many inOklahoma City that are of that
size, but they're definitely outthere and they're very possible
(32:28):
.
I can't say that I want to owna salon that size, but I
wouldn't say we will nevereither.
You know, when you have theculture and the right team in
place, who knows what happens?
But it starts with that.
It starts with having yourvalues, it starts with having a
(32:49):
wonderful culture.
So currently we have 14stylists at Tricology.
So we have six chairs that areavailable, right, and we're
going to fill those chairs.
We're going to fill them withthe right people and in the
right time and not getting aheadof ourselves.
So we have three.
We call them assistant stylists.
(33:09):
That's somebody who's comingfrom hair school into the salon
and we help, you know, wetransition them from school to
salon.
So we're getting their skillsup where they need to be, to
take work behind the chair.
We help them to build aclientele, how to conduct a
consultation.
A lot of work goes into thistime.
So we have three people rightnow that are building.
(33:30):
So right now isn't the besttime for us to take on a fourth
person coming from hair school,to take on a fourth person
coming from hair school.
So we're going to appreciateand respect that in this moment
and not get fixated on justtrying to fill up our shop and
getting to 20 and making moremistakes along the way by having
(33:53):
too many people at one time orhiring the wrong person.
There's been a couple, I won'tlie, there's been a couple
people that have applied in thelast month that I thought would
make for really good hires.
It wasn't the right time and soI had that open, honest
conversation with them and Isaid really excited about you
(34:14):
and what you're doing.
Unfortunately for us right nowit's not the right time.
We can't move forward and let'scircle back down the road a
little bit.
If you feel like trichology isthe right place for you, let's
have a conversation down theroad when the time is right, you
know.
So I think that's reallyimportant, you know,
(34:34):
appreciating where you are andwhat you can take on in any
given time.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
Well, it sounds like you're doing something right and
with that you obviously havesome type of strategy.
So I know a lot of businessowners that are listening.
They're probably just focusedon today.
If I can get past today, thenwe'll worry about tomorrow.
It sounds like you have astrategy, so how far out do you
look with your coaches or yourstrategy?
Speaker 2 (35:04):
Yeah, I'm always looking out a few months a year,
three years down the road, andI've got strategies, action,
steps for everything in thebusiness.
So I have what you'd call likea 90 day sprint, all right.
And then I have a one year goaland then I have a three year
goal.
So you look at, like that threeyear goal and for anybody
(35:25):
listening, if you're looking, ifyou, if you write a three year
goal down, you might look at itlike, okay, here's my goal for
three years or five years,whatever it is.
I don't even know where tobegin.
It might feel like too much.
That's where I say, okay, youknow, just put one step in front
of the other, one foot in frontof the other.
So create your 90 day sprint.
(35:46):
What can you do for the next 90days?
That's going to get you movinginto that direction of that
three-year goal.
What can you do, right?
And so you do that 90 daysprint and then you do that
again, you do that four timesand that takes you to a year and
that's your one-year goal.
So where do I want to be in ayear?
Oftentimes I find myself aheadof the curve.
(36:07):
Sometimes You'd be surprisedwhere you can get within 90 days
, so you've got to break it downand make it simple in that way.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
Yeah, no, that's great advice.
Is there anywhere that peoplecan follow you and the company?
Speaker 2 (36:22):
Yeah, absolutely, you can follow us.
Instagram is a wonderful placeto follow us.
We post our work on there, wepost our team outings on there.
It's a good way to kind of justkeep up with us and what we're
doing.
And we're on Facebook as well,so we have a wonderful website.
You can check out the teamthere.
(36:42):
You can make appointments inthat way.
Speaker 1 (36:45):
If someone were to want to reach out to you to
learn more about what you'vetalked about and maybe how some
of this information could beapplicable to them, could they
do that?
Speaker 2 (36:56):
Oh, absolutely.
I always tell yeah, anytime Ihave a conversation with
somebody a hairstylist who's inhair school or not and so this
also applies to somebody who'snot in the industry and just
wants to talk more aboutbusiness, reach out to me, I
will sit down and talk with you,or we can have a phone
conversation.
Whatever it is, and I am, Iwill be of service to you and,
(37:18):
as much as I can be, help youand uh with with my experiences
and give you my best advice.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
Of your experiences, is there a pivot that you made
that you wish you wouldn't have,or it absolutely turned the
business in the right direction?
Speaker 2 (37:38):
I mean I've made a lot of mistakes.
I don't want to say no, I can'tthink of, like you know, a big
turn that we made.
That was a big mistake.
A big pivot was getting abusiness coach.
Just circling back to that andhow much that helped us.
That was a big pivot.
(37:59):
Recognizing that in that timewe didn't have the tools we
needed as business leaders to dowhat we needed to do, and being
honest with ourselves in thatway and pivoting by getting
somebody that could help us andgive us the confidence to do
those things.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
So wise, very wise, Very wise.
Well, I kind of wrap up ourconversations usually with a
question, and that is if you'rein a room full of business
owners, different industries,different years of experience
what's something that'sapplicable to all of them?
It could be a quote, a book youread, just some insights.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
Oh, there's a lot, let's see here.
I'll give you two.
Speaker 1 (38:46):
Excellent.
Speaker 2 (38:47):
You get a bonus.
Yeah, we'll give you one and abonus.
Systems and processes you haveto have those in place.
I can't stress that enough.
Oftentimes, when somethingisn't happening in a business,
it comes down to a person notknowing that they're supposed to
do it or they don't know how todo it.
(39:07):
It's one or the other.
If it's not those two, thenthat kind of tells you.
You know, then, what it is,what the issue is.
So having that, making thingsvery clear for everybody, so
that when something happens, weknow who's supposed to do it, we
know how it's supposed to bedone.
We like to open up our doorswhen the weather's nice.
At Trichology we have two frontdoors.
(39:28):
Let in the fresh air.
It's windy sometimes.
Sometimes you got a bunch ofleaves blowing in, right.
So what are we going to doabout that?
Whose job is it to sweep upthose leaves and get it, get the
front area cleaned up?
Or do we just all pretend likethey're not there and just let
guests come in and walk in onthe leaves, right?
So systems and processes arereally key and the bonus is take
(39:54):
a vacation, get out of town andtravel somewhere and unplug as
much as you can and you know,just rejuvenate, refresh.
I know that when I come backfrom vacation, I'm ready to go,
I feel refreshed, I'm ready toget things done.
(40:16):
Yes, some things may havestacked up a little bit for me
by being gone, but I've got thetime, I've got the energy, I've
got the mental clarity to getall that done.
So get out of town, get avacation, go have some fun and
start fresh when you get back.
Speaker 1 (40:35):
Well, we appreciate in the community everything you
and your wife are doing, andtrichology is a staple in the
community.
You're helping a lot of people.
You've been a wealth ofinformation and a blessing to
many.
I certainly sincerelyappreciate your time today.
Speaker 2 (40:49):
Well, thank you, Michael.
Again, thank you for having mehere.
It's been a lot of fun and we'dlove to come back sometime.
Speaker 1 (40:55):
Fantastic, my pleasure.
Thank you for listening toSmall Business Pivots.
This podcast is created andproduced by my company, boss.
Our business is growing yours.
Boss, offers flexible businessloans with business coaching
support.
Apply in minutes and getapproved and funded in as little
as 24 to 48 hours atbusinessownershipsimplifiedcom.
(41:19):
If you're enjoying this podcast, don't forget to hit the
subscribe button and share it aswell.
If you need help growing yourbusiness, email me at michael at
michaeldmorrisoncom.
We'll see you next time onSmall Business Pivots.
All right, Welcome to another special Small Business
Pivots Today.
We have a very good, dearfriend here in our neck of the
woods in Oklahoma City and Iknow, as I always say week to
week, no one can introduce theirname and their business like
the business owner.
So I always let you introduceyourself.
So tell us a little bit aboutyou, your business and what
(00:24):
we're going to help people withtoday.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
All right.
Well, first, again, thank youfor having me here.
It's great to be hererepresenting the hair salon
industry.
My name is Travis Briggs andI'm co-owner of Trichology Salon
.
Trichology Salon is a hairsalon.
We have 20 stations here, sowe're a pretty large hair salon.
We offer all thingshair-related, from hair cutting,
(00:49):
hair coloring, we do someextensions we kind of do it all
when it comes to hair in here,and one of our main core focuses
, aside from giving great hair,is we're really excited about
hospitality and getting thatwonderful guest experience.
So we really prioritize thatfrom the time the guest comes in
to the time the guest leaves.
(01:10):
We opened in November of 2008.
So we're at 16 years.
Yeah, thank you.
We're really proud of that.
And over the time, over theyears, we have had a wonderful
team of stylists that haveworked here.
We have a wonderful team ofstylists that work here
currently and our guests.
(01:31):
We've always have been and feltso supported by the people of
Oklahoma City, the people ofEdmond and beyond, and our local
hair industry as well.
We've received a lot of supportover the years, so we're really
thankful to be here and be apart of it.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Well, we appreciate you and everything that you do
for our community, for ourlisteners.
We've kind of reeled it back ina little bit.
We've had a lot of guests fromall over the world and this year
we're going to kind of focus onour local community because we
have a lot of fantastic, specialpeople like yourself.
But before we get into yourstory, your journey and your
pivots, we're going to introducethe show and we'll be right
(02:11):
back.
Welcome to Small BusinessPivots, a podcast produced for
small business owners.
I'm your host, michael Morrison, founder and CEO of BOSS, where
we make business ownershipsimplified for success.
Our business is helping yoursgrow.
Boss offers business loans withbusiness coaching support,
(02:34):
apply in minutes and getapproved and funded in as little
as 24 to 48 hours atbusinessownershipsimplifiedcom.
All right, welcome back toSmall Business Pivots.
I know for a lot of smallbusiness owners we kind of grow
(02:56):
up differently.
Some of us have trials andtribulations, anything that kind
of stalled you a little bitmaybe growing up, that you had
to overcome before you got intothis adulting world.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Oh geez, yeah, trials , I mean I think that's just all
through life.
There's those things and Ialways see them and view them as
opportunities to grow and learn.
I think one of the things thatI've had to overcome over the
years is public speaking gettingover that.
In the beginning that wasreally, really challenging for
me.
Just running a meeting in thesalon was hard.
I'd find myself at sweaty palmsand what am I going to say.
(03:34):
But over time practice getsbetter, so that's something that
I've had to overcome.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
When you got into the adulting world.
When you got into the adultingworld, kind of what's the
journey that led up to being anentrepreneur, so in other words,
kind of what did you do beforeand then kind of what sparked
you to get into the entrepreneurworld itself.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Sure.
So, yeah, that's quite a story.
I think it begins.
We have to go well.
Prior to doing hair, I waswaiting tables, I was bartending
early twenties and honestly notreal sure where I wanted to go
in life as far as my career wasconcerned.
And I was in a relationshipwith somebody for two years and
(04:22):
she was a hairstylist.
We dated for a couple of yearsand all of our friends or most
of our friends were hairstyliststoo.
So while we were dating, thatreally exposed me to the hair
industry and I just I reallyloved what I saw.
It's a creative industry,passion filled, continuous
growth, continuous education,fun, and it got me thinking.
(04:45):
It embodied a lot of thingsthat I felt would work out
really well for me.
So I decided to get myself inhair school and let's give this
a go.
And I remember when I startedschool I told myself I'm really
going to apply myself this time,you know.
I felt like I hadn't trulyapplied myself in life leading
up into that moment.
But I'm going to really give ita go and it's a good thing I
(05:07):
did, because when I got in hairschool I was terrible.
I had never really done muchwith hair.
I was always interested in myown hair but I'd always, for the
most part, had short hair.
So when it came to blow dryingand all these things even for
those that don't have a hairlicense kind of know those basic
skills I didn't know that.
So I can remember reallystruggling in the beginning, but
(05:29):
I stuck to.
I'm going to really give this ago and I'm going to show up
every day and try to become alittle bit better every day.
By the time I graduated hairschool I was still terrible, but
I was better than when I hadstarted and that's what I
recognized and I thought okay,so if I keep working at this I
can continue to grow, and I did.
(05:50):
Within a couple of months ofbeing out of hair school I was
in another city, another state,taking a continuous education
class and it was a five-daycourse, a Tony and Guy course.
It was great.
I took that and maybe I was alittle bit better after that,
started working in a hair salonand practicing.
I kept up with it with thecontinuing education classes and
(06:11):
, fast forward to a couple ofyears.
I was in a salon and it was agood shop, but I was ready to
move on.
I'd felt like I had grown allthat I could with where I was
and I'd heard there was a hairsalon opening up called
Trichology.
I thought, okay, well, where Iwas and I'd heard there was a
hair salon opening up calledTricology, I thought, okay, well
, this sounds interesting.
And the two people opening upthe shop, which is Tammy Briggs,
(06:32):
my now wife and partner, andher business partner at the time
, greg Welchel they were theones opening up Tricology, so
they're the founders ofTricology.
I went in and applied Iactually had.
I knew Tammy a little bit I'dnever met Greg at that time and
we sat down.
They told us all about, told meall about trichology and what
it was going to be, and I wasreally excited.
(06:54):
So I started working there atthat time when trichology opened
in 2008.
And the continuing educationthat I was doing really paid off
for me in those times.
It gave me the opportunities toget into doing some teaching in
the shop.
It also put me the opportunityto become a manager.
(07:15):
So, looking back on thosethings, I feel like I had earned
those things, but at the sametime I wasn't experienced in
them and I wasn't truly readyfor them.
I didn't have any managementexperience.
I had never taught before.
I'd taken classes that teachyou how to teach right, and I'd
taken a lot of classes.
I knew how to cut hair, but I'dnever truly taught before.
(07:38):
And so emerging yourself,immersing yourself into these
realms that you've never donebefore, naturally it's not going
to come to you right away, andI had a lot of challenges in
that way, in every way that youcan imagine.
But I'm also really thankful.
As we were talking earlier, youknow you grow from those
challenges.
(07:59):
So anytime you know I havesomething, that I have to learn,
a new skill, I have to dosomething new, and it's hard.
I always remember that andthose are the times that have
really paid off for me lookingback.
So went through those things,those challenges, those
opportunities, all of it, andthat was also around the time
(08:23):
that me and Tammy's relationshipbegan to grow from a friendship
to something more.
So that was really exciting andlet's fast forward because this
could take all hour.
Well, fast forward to around2014.
Around 2014,.
(08:49):
That was a time when Tammy,greg, along with a couple of
others, were opening up a hairschool together.
So let me take a small stepback.
We'd always talked about mebecoming a partner with
Trichology Salon.
When Tammy and I got married,it kind of resolved that thing.
It's like well, now you don'tnecessarily need to become a
partner, you don't need to buyinto the company, you don't need
to do anything like thatbecause you're married into it
now.
So so I had to open up a hairschool together hair arts
institute, which is still aroundwonderful hair school to this
(09:12):
day.
Um, get that going.
That launches in 2015, a coupleyears into that it.
We got to a point, tam and I did, where we felt like this is
something that we're no longergoing to be able to be a part of
.
So then the question was well,how do we remove ourselves from
this company with these businesspartners?
(09:34):
And a really wonderful solutioncame from those conversations
and what we decided to do.
Where we landed with everybodywas Greg Welchel, founder, one
of the founders of Trichologywas wanting to move into the
direction of more of the hairschool ownership and less of the
salon.
So what happened was weacquired his ownership of
(09:56):
Trichology Salon, so Tammy hadalready had 50.
We would gain Greg's 50% and inexchange, he would gain the
ownership of the hair schoolhair arts Institute.
So he'd become a bigger owner,bigger percentage owner of hair
arts Institute, along with somesome money that went along with
that.
So it was one of those reallywonderful deals where everybody
(10:16):
got what they wanted, walkedaway with that.
So it was in that time that itbecame solely Tammy and I's
salon, and that was in 2018, soseven years ago.
So it's been some time.
There was a whole new challengefor me, because now you go from
a hairstylist yes, I've beenhere from the beginning, but I
(10:38):
wasn't an owner at that time andnow I am.
So how do you transition now,with your colleagues, into this
new role?
You know that's not easy to do.
You know you don't want to comeoff too strong in that way, but
at the same time, you want tobe able to lead and do the
(10:59):
things that you do as a salonowner, and so you know that was
a process in of itself.
Covid happened shortlythereafter.
That was 2020.
So going through COVID likeeverybody was was just a time we
also recognized when we were athome preparing for coming back
(11:22):
to work with COVID procedures,was we also recognized it was a
time for us to make some changeswithin trichology too.
That was the time we startedworking with the business coach.
That was our first time to workwith the business coach and we
really lucked out with hiring anamazing business coach who
(11:43):
understood where we were as acompany, where we were wanting
to go, the challenges that wewere dealing with, and so when
we returned, we didn't onlyreturn from COVID with COVID
policies, if you will, but alsoit was our first time to
implement core values atTrichology.
Trichology had values, but theyweren't necessarily outlined on
(12:08):
paper, they weren't talkedabout in weekly meetings.
You know it's one thing to justcreate values.
It's another thing to writethem out and talk about them in
meetings so that everybody isclear on what those values are,
the accountability that comeswith them.
So you know there was.
I think you could have gonearound and asked people about
trichology values and you mayhave gotten a couple of things.
(12:31):
Continuing education wassomething that we always did
really well, but beyond a coupleof things, it gets lost.
So we outlined those values.
It was one of the best and mostimportant things for us to do
and, you know, started talkingabout those things and we'd had,
for the most part at that time,a group of stylists that had
(12:53):
been with us for a long time andthey're wonderful people,
wonderful stylists.
It also felt like this might bea time for a little bit of
change, a little bit of turnover, which is not a bad word.
Turnover, that's a healthything in businesses from time to
time.
I mean, it can be good, it canbe bad, it really depends on the
(13:14):
circumstances.
We just felt like to get towhere we wanted and to get the
culture where we wanted.
We were curious to see who wasgoing to be along with us for
that ride and who who was goingto be, you know, maybe ready to
take some new steps into theirown journey, and so that's what
(13:35):
happened in 2021, 2022.
We you know some, some stylistsof ours had been with us again,
wonderful people um, moved on,and that was what we had
anticipated the whole time Um,we left, we left it open so that
it was.
It was their decision to makeUm.
(13:56):
We just got really clear on ouron our values, our core values
and where we were going to be asa shop.
So that happens.
What I didn't account for wasbecause we'd been around for a
while and we'd always, for themost part, I feel like had
gotten a lot of applications inas a company.
I think, just with the timesjust right after COVID and other
(14:21):
factors in 2022, 2023, as thisturnover is happening we weren't
getting the applications inthat I was anticipating.
You know, these applicationswere a key part to this whole
process because these are goingto be new hires.
We got some, but we didn't getas many as I thought that we
(14:44):
were going to get, and I thinkyou know some of that is, while
it's true we've been around fora long time, we have a great
reputation, we're also not thenew kids on the block, so to
speak.
We've been around for a while.
You know those new businesses.
One thing they really havegoing for them, when it's a
brand new hair salon orrestaurant or whatever the
industry is, oftentimes iseverybody's excited about them.
(15:06):
Who's this new shop?
Who's this new restaurant?
We've got to go eat there.
Let's try it out.
Everything is, of course, isbrand new in the shop.
Trichology wasn't those things.
It was a lot of other things,but it wasn't those things.
And so for somebody who isyoung, coming out of hair school
18, 19, 20 years old, somethinglike that we may not be on the
(15:27):
radar as much as a shop thatopened up a year ago and maybe
they know the owner.
They have a couple of friendswho work there, so that's where
they want to go work.
So that was a real challenge wasokay.
We're not getting theapplications that we need, even
though I feel like we have theright tools for somebody coming
out of school.
We have a wonderful assistantstylist program that helps them
(15:48):
transition.
How are we going to let themknow, remind them of who we are
and what it is that we do?
So that was a realization thatwas made.
That was caught, you know,somewhere in that process and,
like you know, while we've beenfocusing on what we're doing
(16:14):
here in the shop, we've got toalso do some focusing on some
other things as well.
That also became the opportunityto recognize as a whole,
locally being, that our industrydoesn't come together enough.
You know, we're all I feel likewe're all very supportive of
each other.
There's no, there's nothing, noissue there, but we're busy.
I think it's what it comes downto.
(16:35):
We're busy, the other salonsare busy, so it's hard to get
beyond the walls of our own shopand come together, you know,
for connection, for support,friendship, all those things.
So we started diving into somemore communities-based events
(16:55):
and bringing other salon owners,other stylists from the
community in to do some teachingand opening our doors to all
stylists in Oklahoma City,edmond and beyond, for that
matter, to come in and be a part, and also, in doing that,
reaching out to hair schools tooand bringing them in too, and
(17:19):
that, I think, has paid off inall spectrums.
For one, we've made a lot offriends along the way.
We've helped others.
In times We've even empoweredsome of the stylists who came in
and taught a class and gavethem that opportunity.
It also was an opportunity forother stylists and hair school
(17:41):
students to see who we are.
At the same time and I knowthat you know 2024 and even
already in a couple months, into2025, you know, those
applications do come in now, andnow we can, really we can go
through them and decide who'sgoing to be the best fit for
(18:02):
trichology moving forward.
So, wow, yeah, and that's stilla long story short.
You know a lot more to it thanthat, but it's been a wonderful.
It's been a wonderful ride and,like I said, there's been a lot
of challenges in there, butthey've all have been.
(18:23):
You know, I've learned a lotfrom them all and we've grown,
so I'm thankful.
I'm thankful for all of themand those surprises too.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
Yeah, yeah, well, you mentioned earlier that you had
a problem with public speaking.
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This podcast is produced by mycompany, boss.
Our business is helping yoursgrow.
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(18:53):
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Now let's get back to ourspecial guest.
Yeah, yeah, well, you mentionedearlier that you had a problem
with public speaking, and Idon't think you have that
(19:13):
challenge anymore.
So your story was very wellsaid, and so I want to ask,
because a lot of business ownersare introverts, so most
introverts do have a challengeof speaking in front of others,
and you said that you worked onit.
Was there anything specificthat you could share so other
business owners can maybe havesome hope there as well?
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Yeah, there, there is hope.
I can tell you um it.
First of all, thank you foryour compliment and, um, you
know public speaking, um,because I still get nervous, you
know, before getting up andspeaking in front of others.
And I can remember the firsttime in event we had a couple of
years ago and I had to open upthe event, it was at our shop.
(19:55):
I put it on, so, um, that'seven the introduction, and you
know when it was about time itwas, you know, I think the event
was starting at 12 o'clock andso 1159, I, I, I go to the
bathroom to just get alonebecause I'm like, oh, my gosh,
like my hands, my palms aresweaty and I'm just trying to do
(20:16):
like some breath work for amoment to help calm my nerves.
I'm not I'm not sure how muchthat worked in that moment.
So I completely understand.
And then I relate.
I can even recall those timesin simple meetings a few years
ago, having with the team and sogetting nervous in front of
(20:36):
people that I knew really well.
So I understand some thingsthat have helped me.
The first thing is you have todo it.
The more and more you dosomething, the better you're
going to get.
So look for those opportunitiesand if you have the opportunity
to lead a meeting, do it.
Or perhaps you're not theperson that does.
Go to the person that does andcome up with a way to get
(20:58):
involved more with the meetingand that's an opportunity to
speak, whether it's in front oftwo people, 12 people, whatever
the size of the team is.
It'll also be good for themeeting, I think, because now
they're hearing somebody else'svoice rather than just the same
person over and over.
It's going to give you somegreat practice.
So you're looking for practice,other things you know.
(21:19):
Get involved with if you havean opportunity to do
Toastmasters.
That's not something I've done.
I've heard wonderful thingsabout it.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
It is.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Yeah, read books if you have the opportunity.
I think doing is the number onething, but I think there are
some books out there that canhelp you pick up some tips.
Masterclass I'm a huge fan ofMasterclass.
I've subscribed to that.
They've got some great videoson public speaking as well.
So look for ways to practiceand take some tips where you can
(21:55):
.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
Yeah, and to kind of piggyback on that, I believe
it's over 70% of business ownersare introverts, which means
they're, you know, a littleintimidated.
And then I think it's like 15%of those that don't call
themselves introverts areintroverts.
They just play, they live afacade.
So you know, we all have thatchallenge and I will agree with
(22:20):
you, I did the Toastmasters along time ago and it is a muscle
memory that you continuallyhave to practice.
I'll even say that during COVID, I kind of reverted back to my
introvert because there weren'tspeaking engagements.
And so I make it a point, likeyou said, to get involved and
(22:42):
make sure that at least once aweek I get to a networking group
where I have to stand up andspeak, at least break.
You know, the icebreakers whereyou have to introduce yourself,
your company, and then alsohave a speaking event once a
month, you know, just to keep.
So that's, that's greatinformation.
Well, you also said that you'vegot serious this time.
You're going to make this thinghappen, and we always preach as
(23:04):
business coaches, thesimplicity of personal
development is get serious, makea plan and take action.
What were some of those thingsthat actually got you to get
serious?
Because I know a lot of peoplethey want, they want to do
something.
They just can't seem to getmotivated to do it.
Was there anything that kind ofsparked that for you?
Speaker 2 (23:24):
I was.
I was ready.
I was just ready.
I felt it inside.
I I knew that I was ready totake the next step in my life
and apply myself.
I felt like at that time Ihadn't done that, but I knew
inside that I had that in me andin all of the challenges that
(23:46):
I've faced along the way that Iwent through some of those just
now, I knew that I'm going tofigure this out.
I'm going to keep going.
So I think my advice I don'tknow if this kind of answers
your question, but you're goingto get knocked down in life,
you're going to get knocked downin business Just be ready to do
that and then get back up.
And as long as you're justready to get back up, it's like
(24:08):
I'm just going to try, I'm goingto just put myself out there.
So put yourself out there, justget started.
You know what's that first stepand do that right.
Maybe write down those firstthree steps, 10 steps, and do
that first step.
Just get started.
That's the key is to get moving.
Once you get that momentumgoing, you get on that track.
(24:30):
It's hard to stop that.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Absolutely Great advice.
Well, speaking of getting ontrack, you mentioned a business
coach, and so we do businesscoaching.
So, coming from us, it doesn'tsound very valuable when we say
everyone should have a businesscoach.
So you said it was veryvaluable to you, so I have a few
questions.
What was the process like?
(24:53):
Because a lot of small businessowners haven't had a business
coach?
I know you focused on corevalues.
We do that too, but there's alot more after that.
Like you said, the companyalready had core values, but
they weren't really implemented,they weren't practiced.
It wasn't part of the DNA.
So how do you get that into theDNA of the company?
(25:14):
And then, what were some otherthings you found valuable?
Speaker 2 (25:18):
with a business coach .
Well, you get that into thecompany by reiterating the
values.
So at Tricology, we have abi-weekly meeting.
Some businesses do weekly,monthly.
Whatever it is In thosemeetings you've got to serve I
always circle around one ofthose Like going into the
meeting.
I know of at least one value,core value that I'm going to
bring up, and so the team isalways hearing about those.
(25:43):
It's not enough to only writedown the values and then be done
.
In fact, trichology recently.
So we wrote our initial corevalues in 2020.
And just a couple of months ago, we have, for the most part, an
entirely new team.
We have a couple of stylistsfrom a few years before which
we're really thankful for andproud of, but we have a lot of
(26:05):
the new team.
So we decided it's time for usto revisit our core values as a
team, and that also got a lot ofbuy-in from the team too.
There was already the buy-in,but I thought it would be great
for us to sit down and let'stake a look at our values and
what makes sense for us today,which ones need to stay and
which ones can we let go of andmaybe replace with some that
(26:28):
make more sense.
So include your team on them ifthat's possible.
Let them contribute to them.
If you feel like this isn't theright time for that, then
create those values and justtalk about them as much as you
can in meetings, et cetera.
For us, what else you know,aside from the values?
(26:50):
What did we talk about?
Challenges those times?
There was there was morechallenges and having somebody
to talk to about what was whatwas going on and what was
happening and and getting theirfeedback and, at times, even
direction.
Having another voice was reallyhelpful.
(27:14):
Moving on from those times andthen into a new coach, it's
digging in a little deeper.
So let's go into systems andprocesses.
What do those look like foryour company?
Do you have those in place?
And just buttoning everythingup, and so it becomes almost
more fun.
I think in the beginning, whenyou work with a coach, you're
(27:36):
kind of nervous and maybe you'reworried.
Are they going to judge youbased on where you are, what you
have, what you don't have?
Like you don't even have corevalues in your company, like you
know.
So you worry about those things.
But you know as you go alongand you get these things in
place.
Now it's just about becomingbetter.
We know that we're doing good,but we want to continue to grow.
(27:59):
We want to continue to getbetter.
We want to be able to empowerour team better.
How can we help our stylistsmore?
What can we do better?
And so it becomes more of thosetype of conversations.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
On a scale of one to 10, 10 having a business coach
and one not having a businesscoach where do you think your
business would be not investingin some type of consulting or
coaching?
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Yeah, we would be far from where we are right now.
That is absolutely, 100% true.
We can't envision not having abusiness coach at Tricology and
we've worked with two differentbusiness coaches and both,
(28:48):
thankfully, have been fantastic,and there will be a third coach
.
It's worth the investment.
Yeah, I can't imagine us notever having one.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
Well, I appreciate you saying that as a business
coach, because we find valuesand as a business coach, I even
have business coaches myself,not just on our team, but for me
personally.
So they are valuable and it ismore about for those.
I will back up for thoselooking for a business coach and
I want you to put your inputhere.
I encourage them to cause.
(29:23):
I hear people say, well, I hada business coach, it didn't work
.
And I'm like which part didn'twork?
And they're like well, it justdidn't work.
And I'm like so my, my tip forthose considering a business
coach is know what you're tryingto do, like what do you want to
change?
What challenges do you have?
And then, because there are somany different types of coaches
and a lot of business owners,they just want to increase sales
and I'm like that's not alwaysthe best thing, cause if you
(29:45):
have a company that'sdisorganized and chaotic, all
you're doing is multiplying thatchaos.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
Absolutely yeah, I want to make more money.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
Don't we all?
But you know you can make moremoney if you're more efficient,
right your profits will bebigger and you don't have as
many headaches.
So there's lots of differentways you can look at that
revenue growth.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
That's right.
Yeah, you, you got to dig alittle deeper than that, you
know.
So, yeah, somebody who's who'ssaying that it's hard to know
specifically what the challengewas there.
But perhaps it was the coach,maybe they weren't the right
coach.
You know, I don't think allcoaches are created equal.
You got to find the right coachand we've been really fortunate.
(30:33):
We've had two coaches and bothwere fantastic.
One was from the hair industryand one was not.
Our first coach did not have abackground in doing hair and
that was part of why we wentwith her, is we?
We liked that she didn't havethat background and she could
see things with those fresh eyesmoving forward.
(30:53):
Then we had one that was, andit was nice because they
understood certain things right.
So there's value in both.
But I think doing your duediligence and asking around,
talking to some people, ifyou're thinking, if you're
serious about hiring a coach, iswhat you want to do in that
case.
The other thing is you know youhave to be ready to make those
changes so they could be thebest coach in the world.
(31:14):
But if you're not ready to getserious and put that work into
your business, then it might notwork out either.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
Absolutely.
And the only other thing Iwould add unless you're
specifically looking forsomething in your business, just
verify they've owned businessesbefore or at least have some
kind of background there,background there.
That's one thing that I hear alot of people is they follow a
framework.
They got a license to follow aframework and sometimes that
(31:46):
doesn't always work.
Sometimes it does.
You mentioned the 20 stations,right.
So in your industry and I knowfor a lot of salons I've gone
into you might see three or five.
So let's talk about the growthand scaling and kind of how you
got to that level.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Yeah, absolutely Well , it is.
It's a big number for a shop.
You know, there's salons thathave two, four or five chairs.
There's some that are 10.
Virtual Ecology has 20.
And then there's some that areeven, you know, 50 and 75.
I don't know how many inOklahoma City that are of that
size, but they're definitely outthere and they're very possible
(32:28):
.
I can't say that I want to owna salon that size, but I
wouldn't say we will nevereither.
You know, when you have theculture and the right team in
place, who knows what happens?
But it starts with that.
It starts with having yourvalues, it starts with having a
(32:49):
wonderful culture.
So currently we have 14stylists at Tricology.
So we have six chairs that areavailable, right, and we're
going to fill those chairs.
We're going to fill them withthe right people and in the
right time and not getting aheadof ourselves.
So we have three.
We call them assistant stylists.
(33:09):
That's somebody who's comingfrom hair school into the salon
and we help, you know, wetransition them from school to
salon.
So we're getting their skillsup where they need to be, to
take work behind the chair.
We help them to build aclientele, how to conduct a
consultation.
A lot of work goes into thistime.
So we have three people rightnow that are building.
(33:30):
So right now isn't the besttime for us to take on a fourth
person coming from hair school,to take on a fourth person
coming from hair school.
So we're going to appreciateand respect that in this moment
and not get fixated on justtrying to fill up our shop and
getting to 20 and making moremistakes along the way by having
(33:53):
too many people at one time orhiring the wrong person.
There's been a couple, I won'tlie, there's been a couple
people that have applied in thelast month that I thought would
make for really good hires.
It wasn't the right time and soI had that open, honest
conversation with them and Isaid really excited about you
(34:14):
and what you're doing.
Unfortunately for us right nowit's not the right time.
We can't move forward and let'scircle back down the road a
little bit.
If you feel like trichology isthe right place for you, let's
have a conversation down theroad when the time is right, you
know.
So I think that's reallyimportant, you know,
(34:34):
appreciating where you are andwhat you can take on in any
given time.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
Well, it sounds like you're doing something right and
with that you obviously havesome type of strategy.
So I know a lot of businessowners that are listening.
They're probably just focusedon today.
If I can get past today, thenwe'll worry about tomorrow.
It sounds like you have astrategy, so how far out do you
look with your coaches or yourstrategy?
Speaker 2 (35:04):
Yeah, I'm always looking out a few months a year,
three years down the road, andI've got strategies, action,
steps for everything in thebusiness.
So I have what you'd call likea 90 day sprint, all right.
And then I have a one year goaland then I have a three year
goal.
So you look at, like that threeyear goal and for anybody
(35:25):
listening, if you're looking, ifyou, if you write a three year
goal down, you might look at itlike, okay, here's my goal for
three years or five years,whatever it is.
I don't even know where tobegin.
It might feel like too much.
That's where I say, okay, youknow, just put one step in front
of the other, one foot in frontof the other.
So create your 90 day sprint.
(35:46):
What can you do for the next 90days?
That's going to get you movinginto that direction of that
three-year goal.
What can you do, right?
And so you do that 90 daysprint and then you do that
again, you do that four timesand that takes you to a year and
that's your one-year goal.
So where do I want to be in ayear?
Oftentimes I find myself aheadof the curve.
(36:07):
Sometimes You'd be surprisedwhere you can get within 90 days
, so you've got to break it downand make it simple in that way.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
Yeah, no, that's great advice.
Is there anywhere that peoplecan follow you and the company?
Speaker 2 (36:22):
Yeah, absolutely, you can follow us.
Instagram is a wonderful placeto follow us.
We post our work on there, wepost our team outings on there.
It's a good way to kind of justkeep up with us and what we're
doing.
And we're on Facebook as well,so we have a wonderful website.
You can check out the teamthere.
(36:42):
You can make appointments inthat way.
Speaker 1 (36:45):
If someone were to want to reach out to you to
learn more about what you'vetalked about and maybe how some
of this information could beapplicable to them, could they
do that?
Speaker 2 (36:56):
Oh, absolutely.
I always tell yeah, anytime Ihave a conversation with
somebody a hairstylist who's inhair school or not and so this
also applies to somebody who'snot in the industry and just
wants to talk more aboutbusiness, reach out to me, I
will sit down and talk with you,or we can have a phone
conversation.
Whatever it is, and I am, Iwill be of service to you and,
(37:18):
as much as I can be, help youand uh with with my experiences
and give you my best advice.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
Of your experiences, is there a pivot that you made
that you wish you wouldn't have,or it absolutely turned the
business in the right direction?
Speaker 2 (37:38):
I mean I've made a lot of mistakes.
I don't want to say no, I can'tthink of, like you know, a big
turn that we made.
That was a big mistake.
A big pivot was getting abusiness coach.
Just circling back to that andhow much that helped us.
That was a big pivot.
(37:59):
Recognizing that in that timewe didn't have the tools we
needed as business leaders to dowhat we needed to do, and being
honest with ourselves in thatway and pivoting by getting
somebody that could help us andgive us the confidence to do
those things.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
So wise, very wise, Very wise.
Well, I kind of wrap up ourconversations usually with a
question, and that is if you'rein a room full of business
owners, different industries,different years of experience
what's something that'sapplicable to all of them?
It could be a quote, a book youread, just some insights.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
Oh, there's a lot, let's see here.
I'll give you two.
Speaker 1 (38:46):
Excellent.
Speaker 2 (38:47):
You get a bonus.
Yeah, we'll give you one and abonus.
Systems and processes you haveto have those in place.
I can't stress that enough.
Oftentimes, when somethingisn't happening in a business,
it comes down to a person notknowing that they're supposed to
do it or they don't know how todo it.
(39:07):
It's one or the other.
If it's not those two, thenthat kind of tells you.
You know, then, what it is,what the issue is.
So having that, making thingsvery clear for everybody, so
that when something happens, weknow who's supposed to do it, we
know how it's supposed to bedone.
We like to open up our doorswhen the weather's nice.
At Trichology we have two frontdoors.
(39:28):
Let in the fresh air.
It's windy sometimes.
Sometimes you got a bunch ofleaves blowing in, right.
So what are we going to doabout that?
Whose job is it to sweep upthose leaves and get it, get the
front area cleaned up?
Or do we just all pretend likethey're not there and just let
guests come in and walk in onthe leaves, right?
So systems and processes arereally key and the bonus is take
(39:54):
a vacation, get out of town andtravel somewhere and unplug as
much as you can and you know,just rejuvenate, refresh.
I know that when I come backfrom vacation, I'm ready to go,
I feel refreshed, I'm ready toget things done.
(40:16):
Yes, some things may havestacked up a little bit for me
by being gone, but I've got thetime, I've got the energy, I've
got the mental clarity to getall that done.
So get out of town, get avacation, go have some fun and
start fresh when you get back.
Speaker 1 (40:35):
Well, we appreciate in the community everything you
and your wife are doing, andtrichology is a staple in the
community.
You're helping a lot of people.
You've been a wealth ofinformation and a blessing to
many.
I certainly sincerelyappreciate your time today.
Speaker 2 (40:49):
Well, thank you, Michael.
Again, thank you for having mehere.
It's been a lot of fun and we'dlove to come back sometime.
Speaker 1 (40:55):
Fantastic, my pleasure.
Thank you for listening toSmall Business Pivots.
This podcast is created andproduced by my company, boss.
Our business is growing yours.
Boss, offers flexible businessloans with business coaching
support.
Apply in minutes and getapproved and funded in as little
as 24 to 48 hours atbusinessownershipsimplifiedcom.
(41:19):
If you're enjoying this podcast, don't forget to hit the
subscribe button and share it aswell.
If you need help growing yourbusiness, email me at michael at
michaeldmorrisoncom.
We'll see you next time onSmall Business Pivots.
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